On July 17, 95 prisoners of war were returned to Ukraine as part of an exchange with Russia. Among them were soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and border guards.
This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
We continue to bring our people home. Another 95 defenders have been released from Russian captivity. These are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and border guards, – the president wrote.
The exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that all of the released prisoners were men: 88 privates and sergeants, seven officers.
Among them were:
- 49 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including a member of the “air bridge” who volunteered to fly a helicopter to Azovstal to help the units blocked there, and two from the Air Force),
- 21 National Guardsmen,
- 10 military sailors,
- seven from the Territorial Defense Forces,
- five border guards,
- two from the State Special Transport Service
- one defender from a volunteer territorial community unit.
Among our guys who have finally gained their freedom, 23 defended Mariupol (thirteen of them were Azovstal defenders), 41 fought in the Donetsk sector, nine in the Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia sectors, and three in the Kherson and Kharkiv sectors. One of the liberated sailors was in Kyiv region at the time of the invasion and immediately joined the defense of his village against the occupiers as part of the Makariv territorial defense unit. While providing humanitarian aid to the local community, he was captured by Russian Buryat soldiers, – the coordination headquarters noted.
The Coordination Center also noted that “many returning Ukrainian soldiers suffer from the consequences of injuries and have chronic diseases that require long-term treatment”.
Most of them had been held captive by the aggressor country since 2022. Among those released is a defender who was reported missing.
According to the ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, the staff of our Office is at the exchange site to monitor the observance of human rights in accordance with international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
Dmytro Lubinets said that the relatives of those who were returned today will receive an official notification from the Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Then the returned soldiers will eat, receive clean clothes, be examined by doctors, and be prescribed the necessary treatment and rehabilitation, – the ombudsman wrote.
This is the 54th exchange of prisoners since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In total, the Coordination Center managed to return 3405 people.
